Kismet.

[happy daze john in oz]

Rodders, I am not ashamed to say your wife's message brought a tear to my eyes.
She has summed up in a few words what are the most important things in life.
Material goods are nothing more them mere baubles along the way, true love can never be bought at any price, it is given freely and accepted with as much love as is given.

Hang in there mate, and remember, never ever give up.

[Shaun Gander]

Rodders, I am not ashamed to say your wife's message brought a tear to my eyes.
She has summed up in a few words what are the most important things in life.
Material goods are nothing more them mere baubles along the way, true love can never be bought at any price, it is given freely and accepted with as much love as is given.

Hang in there mate, and remember, never ever give up.

The same here.

SDG

[Rodney Mills]

We have some good news for a change: My wife had her weekly blood test yesterday and did not need an infusion of blood platelets. That is six weeks without an infusion which means she is responding to the treatment. Sadly this does not alter the prognosis for the disease, but responding to the medication postpones the inevitable, which in simple English means it gives her more time...We'll take all the time that's going!

We have been working our asses off in between doctors visits, (Monday through Friday next (this) week). Non-doctors days mean getting the house in order to put it on the market; rainy days inside, sunny days outside. If the rain holds up tomorrow (Sunday) it's power-washing the dock. If it rains its sorting out our books, what we can keep and what goes. Today (Saturday) we dumped our dive gear. Sad, we had great memories of marvelous sights we've seen underwater.

I'm saddened at having to sell the house, after all we have lived here twenty-two years. I love the house and the view and the animals we enjoy watching. This morning we watched a deer graze across the canal while we had breakfast. Not much we can do, as further along the line it will be impossible to drive to the hospital and doctors. We have moved Jm's treatment and doctor to Florence from Charleston which is a great help. A one hour drive instead of two and a half each way.

Florence is where we will be moving to once we sell and renting an apartment. So the hospital and doctors will just be minuets away. We would have had to have done this anyway, just for shopping and avoiding the tribulations of owning a home. It's been getting too much for me.

We ruled out Charleston as a place to live as it has exploded population wise and the price of apartments are very high now and the traffic is catching up on L.A... It is no longer the sleepy little Southern town, as industry has moved in, Boeing for one, and the port of Charleston has been enlarged and dredged deeper to accommodate these ugly, huge, container ships and the floating apartment buildings they call cruise ships, which has led to huge container transfer stations and multiple warehouses, shame really.

Florence doesn't have much character, but as one gets older medical becomes an issue, and they have good doctors and hospitals there, so Florence it is.

Well that's us up-to-date and as I have had some good news to share with you I'll sign-off with a joke.

The Tourist Office has notified all senators, congressmen and women along with all elected officials from any country, that they have opened a bungy-jump over Niagara Falls and any elected official can have a free jump. They stress "no strings attached."

Cheers, Rodney

[Ken Norton]

Great news Rodney very positive and cheering news in such sad times for you both. Glad to see you have kept your sense of humour, wish you both strength and faith. Very best wishes Ken

[John F Collier]

We have some good news for a change: Sad, we had great memories of marvelous sights we've seen underwater.







The Tourist Office has notified all senators, congressmen and women along with all elected officials from any country, that they have opened a bungy-jump over Niagara Falls and any elected official can have a free jump. They stress "no strings attached."

Cheers, Rodney

Hi Rodney, tough times indeed mate, it's good to see you in such a positive frame of mind , I had my bad
time 9 years ago so have an idea what you are going through, can only hope for you both that medication
gives you as much time together as possible. My best wishes to you and your lovely wife. John Collier

[Captain Kong]

Thinking of you both Rodney , All the best
Brian.

[happy daze john in oz]

Rodders, every bit of good news gives you some small peace of mind.
Hang on to that mate, hang in and never ever give up.
Most importantly now enjoy each day as if it is the last.
Good luck to you both, our thoughts are with you.

[Doc Vernon]

Rodney
May i just echo all that has been said here to you and yours
Keep smiling and Chins up.
Take Care
Cheers

[Rodney Mills]

My wife continues to respond to the treatment which has been gradually reduced from five daily treatments every week to three treatments in one week out of the month with a weekly blood test. I admit I'm sitting on thorns as we sit awaiting the results, a sword of Damocles hanging over our heads . But so far they have showed positive results. While her disease is not curable as long as she is responding well it delays the inevitable...I'll take every extra moment I can get.

However it's been my turn. I was diagnosed about ten years or so ago with having a heart murmur which means one of my heart chambers wasn't pumping correctly. I was not aware of it, life want on. I continued to exercise as usual. Floor exercise daily, among which were three sets of 50 push-ups, leg-lifts and others followed by a no-gear ten mile bike ride with hills and such, racing the clock. Then the stuff hit the fan: I started to run out of gas, panting and such. So I started to use a couple of gears. No improvement, so skipped the hills and cut back and still pooped plus chest pains. Started walking slowly, still the same, a hundred feet and I'm knackered. My cardiologist sent me to a heart surgeon, who's opinion was I was ready for surgery and a candidate for a valve replacement (trans catheter aortic valve replacement) based upon my age, (82) body weight and life-style, rather than open-heart surgery. He warned me that there was a 3% chance of death and equal odds on a heart attack or stroke, but what choice did I have?

Last Thursday was the big day, nothing by mouth after midnight Wednesday surgery scheduled for three in the afternoon. I was shaved, legs, chest, groin area and prepped. In comes a resident doctor to give the doom and gloom 3% story, plus the fact that they have to prep me for an open heart procedure, because if a problem develops they have to perform an open heart operation instantly with no time to do preparation. I have to be ready to go. I get the same warning from the anesthesiologist and the cardiac surgeon.

At four o'clock the surgeon come back to tell me they have run into problems with the patient before me who is now undergoing open-heart and the team is running out of gas and they are going to have to postpone my operation until the next day, Thursday, and I'm being admitted to hospital as an in-patient. This takes about four hours to check me into the room. The kitchen is closed, but they have a picnic box available. That's the good news. except nothing by mouth from midnight onwards(again) and scheduled once again for three pm.

Next day, I'm into the O.R. There's a twelve gowned and masked people waiting in a massive room, TV like screens all over. There is a valve replacement team to work on me plus a open heart team standing by just in case...charming. I'm taped and draped from neck to ankles then my face is draped and sort of lifted up so my neck and head is enclosed in a housing. I'm being told what is going on as it happens. I'm awake during the two hour procedure, then into recovery room where I cannot move for two hours, where there is difficulty stopping the groin area from bleeding. I finally moved from this recovery room to another where I have to lay again flat on my back on a hard surface without movement for four more hours, it's murder on my back and I have a team of twentysomething really lovely nurses coming in lifting the sheet, moving John-Willy out of the way and checking my groin area and not a quiver from me.

Finally all is under control and I'm back in my room for another sandwich picnic-box dinner, two of them in forty-eight hours. come breakfast and I was beyond famished.

Anyway. surgery was so successful they released me to go home Friday yesterday evening. This morning my wife and I walked about 3/4 of a mile at a marching speed. No problems, I feel great. I will add a hundred yards tomorrow and slowly build up to my bike in a month and start in with a few push-ups and build from there with my goal to be back at full peak come Xmas.

The last thing we had a private room with a pull-out bed for my wife to sleep, as much as we could, (between many trips in for vital signs, Cardiae exams, etc. etc..) still as they say you don't go to hospital for the food or to sleep.

The hospital, the staff, nurses, techies etc. were terrific and helpful as were all the O.R. staff, they couldn't be more helpful.
Rodney

[Stan Carter]

way to go Rodney, you are an inspiration to us all, take care and good luck..